Competitive gaming is as much a sport as chess, poker – Jet Li

Jet Li is The One, Fearless, Hero who can kick your ass from here into The Forbidden Kingdom should he take a shine to it, using his Fist of Legend, Lethal Weapon 4 or Kiss of the Dragon. He could probably do this in-game as well, if he decided to be The Enforcer on the matter.

Sorry for all the movie puns. Well, no I’m not, really.

Anyway – according to an interview translation over at MMO Culture, Li was on-hand at an Age of Wushu PvP tournament, where he stated that e-sports is just as valid as any other sport.

Take that, football.

“If poker card games and chess both have the players sitting down and are considered sports, why not virtual gaming as well,” Li said. “There are two kinds of sports: one physical and one mental. There is no good reason to debunk virtual gaming as a sport.

“I believe the participants of such virtual PvP events have the same mentality as physical athletes.”